I was in my post-grad American Economic History class with my relatively liberal professor this morning. He was discussing slavery as an economic institution and mentioned the Dred Scott Case (1857) in which it was declared by Chief Justice Taney (a Catholic, by the way) that slaves were property of their masters, not citizens, and had no rights under the law. He commented on how horrible it was that so many were able to be kept in bondage, and then pointed out how beneficial it was that the 13th amedment freed the slaves, the 14th granted them citizenship, and the 15th voting rights. All the other liberals in the class were nodding in agreement (and it is a good thing to agree that slavery is bad).

Then, when it was time for questions, I said, "How is that issue any different than the current controversy over abortion, in which a woman's child is declared her property and deprived of life without sue process of law?" The room went silent and he got a dumb look on his face. But his response was interesting, especially since he is kind of a liberal (or so it seems from certain comments he makes).

He said that slavery was entrenched in the Constitution while abortion sprung from a mere decision of the Supreme Court. Therefore, he said, slavery had much more of a constitutional basis than abortion and was much more entrenched in society. Then he went on to another topic. Although he did not answer my question on the moral similarity between abortion and slavery, he did point out something: slavery was enmeshed in the Constitution, and was yet overturned and overthrown, and is now accepted by all peoples as being morally reprehensible. Abortion, as springing only from a decision of the Supreme Court, is on much shakier ground constitutionally than slavery.

Conclusion: If slavery, which was constitutional, could be overthrown, then abortion, which is not in the constitution and is on shakier ground, could (in theory) be much more easily overthrown legally if we just had the people to carry it through.

In closing, look at this excerpt from this article on lame-duck President James Buchanan, the predecessor of Lincoln. Look at how it phrases Buchanan's position on slavery and see if it rings any bells: "Buchanan personally opposed slavery, but as a public official he felt bound to sustain it where sanctioned by law. Political enemies called him a "trimmer," but he took middle ground consistently as a matter of policy. What some considered impotent vacillation was an expression of three fundamental convictions: (1) that only by compromise between the parts could a federal republic survive; (2) that citizens had to obey the law even when they thought it unjust; and (3) that questions of morality could not be settled by political action. Despite the secession movement, he succeeded in preventing hostilities between North and South, and he turned over to Lincoln a nation at peace with eight slave states still in the Union."

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

"We most humbly beseech Thee Almighty God, to command that these offerings be borne by the hands of Thy holy Angel to Thine altar on high in the sight of Thy Divine Majesty, that as many of us as at this altar shall partake of and receive the most holy Body and Blood of Thy Son, may be filled with every heavenly blessing and grace. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen." -Supplices te Rogamus, from the Canon of the Mass (1962)

Cardinal Ottaviani: "Recent reforms have amply demonstrated that fresh changes in the liturgy could lead to nothing but complete bewilderment on the part of the faithful who are already showing signs of restiveness and of an indubitable lessening of faith...errors against the Faith are not so much insinuated but rather an inevitable consequence of liturgical abuses and aberrations which have been given equal recognition. To abandon a liturgical tradition which for four centuries was both a sign and pledge of unity of worship is, we feel in conscience bound to proclaim, an incalculable error."

Pope Pius XII: "I hear all around me innovators who want to dismantle the Holy Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, throw away her ornaments, give her a remorse of her historical past. Well my dear friend, I have the conviction that the Church of Peter must assume her past or she will dig her own grave."

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Pope St. Pius X

1903-1914 "With truly lamentable results, our age, casting aside all restraint in its search for the ultimate causes of things, frequently pursues novelties so ardently that it rejects the legacy of the human race."

St. Thomas Aquinas (Doctor Angelicus)

"Among the Scholastic Doctors, the chief and master of all towers Thomas Aquinas, who, because he most venerated the ancient doctors of the Church, in a certain way seems to have inherited the intellect of all." (Pope Leo XIII, Aeterni Patris, 17)

Ratko Peric, Bishop of Mostar-Duvno, Herzegovnia

"It is therefore forbidden to claim or to declare in churches and religious communities that Our Lady has appeared or will yet appear in Medjugorje." Seat of Wisdom, by Bishop Peric, 1995

Pope Leo XIII

"Let your solicitude watch and your authority be effective in controlling, compelling, and also preventing, lest anyone under the pretext of good should cause the vigor of sacred discipline to be relaxed or the order which Christ has established in His Church to be disturbed." -Graves de Communi re, 27 (1901)